DataBank Indicator

Attendance at Religious Services

For students in tenth and twelfth grades, attendance at religious services generally declined between 2002 and 2012. Eighth-graders’ attendance shows a different pattern, increasing between 2009 and 2012.

Importance

Religion plays an important role in the lives of many children and teens,[1] as well as being positively associated with many other aspects of child well-being. Teens who attend religious services once a week or more (as well as teens who feel religion is very important to them) are less likely to take risks and to enjoy danger, fight with another student, or get in trouble with the police.[2] These teens are also less likely to be suspended or expelled, or to be sent to detention or to the principal’s office.[3] Teens who attend any religious services, or feel religion is at least a little important, are less likely to hit a teacher or to skip school, and more likely to volunteer, participate in student government, and participate in sports or other exercise.[4] These teens are also less likely than those who do not attend religious services to drink alcohol and use illicit drugs.[5] In addition, teens who attend religious services tend to hold more conservative attitudes toward sex and to have less sexual experience.[6]

Religious service attendance is positively correlated with education measures, such as academic expectations among high school students, and verbal test scores among girls.[7]One study found that the academic benefit of religious service attendance for youth living in low-income neighborhoods increased as negative factors such as poverty and unemployment increased.[8]

Trends

Between 1991 and 2002, the percentage of twelfth- and tenth-grade students who reported attending religious services at least once a week increased modestly, from 31 to 35 percent, and from 38 to 42 percent, respectively. Between 2002 and 2012, however, religious attendance decreased significantly to 31 percent for twelfth-graders, and 34 percent for tenth-graders. Eighth-graders’ attendance has followed a different pattern, with those reporting frequent religious service attendance fluctuating between 42 and 47 percent from 1991 to 2007. Between 2007 and 2009, eighth-graders’ attendance decreased from 44 to 38 percent, but increased to 42 percent by 2011. In 2012, 41 percent of eighth-graders attended religious services at least once a week. (Figure 1)

Differences by Gender

In 2012, females in all three grades were more likely than males to report attending religious services. Among twelfth-graders, 27 percent of males, and 34 percent of females, attended. Among tenth-graders, 31 percent of males, and 36 percent of females, attended. Among eighth graders, 39 percent of males, and 44 percent of females, attended. (Appendix 1)

Among eighth-, tenth-, and twelfth-graders, black students are more likely than white students to say they attend religious services. This gap is greatest among twelfth-graders. In 2012, for example, 48 percent of black eighth-graders attended religious services at least once a week, compared with 41 percent of white eighth-graders. (Appendix 1) By twelfth grade, that gap increases to 10 percentage points, with 39 percent of black twelfth-graders attending religious services, compared with 29 percent of white twelfth-graders. The black-white difference has remained steady for the past ten years. (Figure 2) Significantly fewer Hispanic students than either blacks or whites report attending religious services at eighth and twelfth grade (38 and 26 percent, respectively, in 2012), but there is no significant difference between Hispanic and white students’ attendance in tenth grade. (Appendix 1) Caution should be used when interpreting results for Hispanics, because students in Western states, where the majority of U.S. Hispanics live, were not asked this question.

Differences by Parental Education

Students whose parents have graduated from college are more likely than students whose parents have less education to say they attend religious services, a pattern present across the three grade levels. For example, among eighth-grade students in 2012, 47 percent of those whose parents had completed college reported attending religious services regularly, compared with 32 percent of those whose parents had not completed high school. (Figure 3)

Differences by College Plans

Students who plan to complete four years of college are more likely than students who do not have such plans to say they attend religious services. In 2012, 32 percent of twelfth-graders who planned to complete four years of college attended religious services at least weekly, compared with 22 percent of those who did not have such plans. Similar differences are found among tenth- and eighth-grade students. (Appendix 1)

Related Indicators

Definition

Students were asked, “How often do you attend religious services?” This indicator reflects those who answered “about once a week or more.” This question was not asked of students in Western states after 2006, which include Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, and California.

Data Source

Child Trends’ original analysis of
Monitoring the Future Survey data, 1976 to 2012.

Raw Data Source

Bachman, Jerald
G., Lloyd D. Johnston, and Patrick M. O’Malley. Monitoring the Future: A
Continuing Study of American Youth (8th-, 10th-, and
12th-Grade Surveys), 1976-2010 [Computer files]. Conducted by
University of Michigan, Survey Research Center. ICPSR ed. Ann Arbor, MI:
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producer and
distributor].

2 Parental education is the average education of the two parents. In those circumstances where the gap between mothers’ and fathers’ education is more than one level, this results in an underestimate of the most educated parent’s education level.

Source: Original analysis by Child Trends of Monitoring the Future data, 1991-2012.